# hoist

> English word · Verb · IPA /hɔɪst/ · frequency rank #24,784

## Definitions
1. To raise; to lift; to elevate (especially, to raise or lift to a desired elevation, by means of tackle or pulley, said of a sail, a flag, a heavy package or weight).
2. To lift a trophy or similar prize into the air in celebration of a victory.
3. To lift someone up to be flogged.
4. To be lifted up.
5. To extract (code) from a loop construct as part of optimization.
6. To steal.
7. To rob.

## Etymology
Alteration of earlier hoise (“to hoist”), apparently based on the past tense forms, from Middle Dutch hisen (“to hoist”). Compare modern Dutch hijsen (“to hoist”), German hissen (“to hoist”), Danish hejse (“to hoist”). Compare also French hisser (“to hoist”), Galician isar (“to hoist”), Spanish izar (“to hoist”), Catalan hissar (“to hoist”), Italian issare (“to hoist”),
Portuguese içar (“to hoist”), Sicilian jisari (“to hoist”), all borrowed from a Germanic source.

## Easily confused with
- **hot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-hot)
- **hos** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-hos)
- **host** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-host)
- **hose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-hose)
- **holt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-holt)
- **hoot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-hoot)
- **Homs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-homs)
- **hots** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-hots)
- **hows** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-hows)
- **hoss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-hoss)
- **house** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-house)
- **horse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-horse)
- **hosts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-hosts)
- **hurst** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-hurst)
- **horst** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-horst)
- **honest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-honest)
- **hoisted** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-hoisted)
- **holiest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hoist-vs-holiest)
- **his** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/his-vs-hoist)
- **hit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hit-vs-hoist)

## Common misspellings (7)
`hhoist`, `hiost`, `hoisst`, `hoistt`, `hoits`, `hosit`, `ohist`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/hoist